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Sunday, August 22, 2010

Growing Veggies Grows Money

If you shop at the grocery store for tomatoes, potatoes, zucchini, salad greens or strawberries -- and who doesn't? -- then you are the perfect candidate for becoming a kitchen gardener.

Growing your own will save you an incredible amount of money -- more than $1,200 if you plant all five, according to the analysis of one Maine gardener.

Roger Doiron, the founder of Kitchen Gardeners International (and a 2009 Heart of Green Award winner), undertook the painstaking process of determining how much his garden was worth. He weighed what he grew and compared it to the cost -- on a per pound basis -- of buying the same amount of conventional produce at the grocery store, local produce at the farmers market or organic produce at a nearby Whole Foods.

Doiron has a pretty big garden -- 1,600 square feet -- and he estimated spending $282 on seeds, supplies, a soil test, compost and water during the year of his analysis. He grew 834 pounds of produce -- 35 varieties of vegetables, fruits and herbs. All told, he saved between $1,914.50 (compared to conventional produce at the grocery store), $2,149.15 (compared to local produce at the farmers' market) and $2,266.93 (compared to organic produce from Whole Foods).

Try and find a better financial bet in this -- or any economy. His return on investment was a whopping 678% (assuming he'd have bought that much produce at a grocery store).

Will you save that much? That depends on how much you spend on planting and maintaining your garden, how successful your harvest is (Doiron's apple tree was a bust), and how much the same produce costs at your local markets. (The analysis also papers over one confounding factor: Few would purchase 72 pounds of zucchini or 47 pounds of winter squash in a year, but if you've ever had a garden you know that part of the pleasure is finding recipes to deal with the mixed blessing of high yields.) Regardless, his analysis is a good indicator that you can save a bundle with a little effort -- effort that is rewarded not only in dollars, but in flavor, nutrition, exercise and time spent outdoors.

Here's a look at the 20 vegetables he grew that were worth $25 or more each, listed from most lucrative to least. For simplicity, we're listing only the value of the garden crop as compared to buying conventional produce at a grocery store. We've also rounded to the nearest pound and dollar. To see the comparison to farmers' market and Whole Foods prices for all 35 of Doiron's crops, and every decimal place, check out his raw data.
20 Garden Vegetables Worth $25 or More
garden vegetables

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Please use caution and common sense if you decide to attempt to try/use any of the many great ideas & tutorials I have posted.Even though I 'try' to make sure all information is accurate I can not guarantee it is. Soooooo, all data and information posted on this site is for informational and fun purposes only.Old Hippy makes no representations as to the accuracy, completeness, suitability or the validity of any information on this site.Old Hippy will not be liable for any errors, omissions or otherwise in this information; nor for any losses, injuries or damages arising from its display or use.All information provided is my opinion ( Old Hippy is very opinionated) and is to be used at your own risk.Old Hippy is dirt poor, she does have a pot to p*ss in but sadly she does not own a window to throw it out of ( which is the whole purpose of this website: How to live well on a Pauper's income) so any attempts to sue for $$ would be an exercise in futility.There, now that that's out of the way....I do hope you enjoy your time here :)